For a few breezy moments in Set 3 it looked like JT might have gotten their choke out of the way early and were finding their feet, but alas. "You can get 3 or 4 or 5 points ahead of Hisamitsu, but only up to 20. They don't give it to you after that. Then they beat you."

V.League All Stars announced

In order to show the world that Japan loves volleyball most in the world, the V.League posted the All-Star picks in a un-google-translatable JPG. This isn't 1995, Japan. Idiots!

As an introduction they mentioned Haruka Miyashita got the most fan votes, and that "Neriman, Gen Shrek (Toyota Auto Body Quincy's), served as a captain in the Chinese Taipei national team" ... or something, for some reason.

There are pictures of Miyashita and Megumi Kurihara accompanying the announcement.

I wonder what's up with Kotoe Inoue. I guess we'll find out this weekend if it's due to an injury or not--if she plays in the Final Game against Hisamitsu. I'm very happy to see Toray's Yumi Nakagawa picked as her replacement--she's one I've singled out for greatness.

Surprised and happy NEC's Shiori Aratani was picked by the fans (we know what fan voting is all about, though--she had a fashioable haircut for a while).

Not a lot of other surprises from the V.League's picks, which is troubling if it foreshadows what's coming for the NT. They picked JT's Misaki Tanaka for setter. Bad news. They should acknowledge a couple of the youngsters coming up. The only "new" girl they're promoting is JT's OH Yuka Kanasugi. She showed some signs of goodness this year but very inconsistently.

Kenia Carcaces over Brankica Mihajlović? Give me a Break!

By moving Risa Ishii to MB they found a place for her. I'm cool with that. I like her, but in the long line of OHs Japan has, she's not at the top.

Finally, JT's #1 Aika Akutagawa. Fact. Way to go V.League!

ps - @brahmin posted:

"For the women, Megumi Kurihara of Hitachi Rivale received the most votes with 16,200."

There are two games for each sex in the All-Star Games. One is the Premier League (top level) and then one for the Challenge League I & II (second and third divisions).

With Miyashita's team in the second division, that is why her picture was put on the webpage. Miyashita for the women actually had the highest votes in all divisions, while Kurihara was top in the women's Premier League.

I wrote the article about the top division because if people are following the lower divisions outside of Japan, they must really volleyball at all levels.

The fan voting system was a little weird. A player could get a vote easily for 1 point, but if they found a special "stamp (for less of a better term)" at the matches to vote, then the player could get more points (instead of one). V.League gave no breakdown of single vs. multiple votes, so we'll never know.

Anyone know who the woman on the left is?

These are the two women who have brought me much joy in commentating the V.League matches. The woman on the right is, I believe, Motoko Obayashi. The woman on the left looks a bit like Koyomi Tominaga (but it's not).

These are the two women who have brought me much joy in commentating the V.League matches. The woman on the right is, I believe, Motoko Obayashi. The woman on the left looks a bit like Koyomi Tominaga (but it's not).

Ohbayashi was on the right, but it is Tominaga. I saw the note on the video in Japanese. Ohbayashi is basically the women’s voice of Japanese volleyball any time anywhere.

I have not seen a reason for Inoue being replaced on the all-star team.

Final match results - Hisamitsu are Champs!

JT 0-3 Hisamitsu [14-25 , 21-25 , 20-25]

Super weird JT brought in an 18 year old out of nowhere, never seen her play before, and benched Kitsui and KANASUGI who's always spelled in ALL CAPS. Tanaka may have a boo-boo, as she didn't play at all, but the K-sisters subbed a little tiny bit and scored zero. The 18 y/old was 22/5.